Traction assist system and method for mobile heavy equipment

ABSTRACT

A traction assist system and method for heavy equipment on an incline or in other situations with poor or limited traction. In particular, a traction assist system for heavy equipment having an accessory such as a blade, the system including: a tether; an adaptation to the accessory allowing the tether to be placed to allow the accessory to function without disrupting the tether, such as through-holes in the blade; and an attachment point on the heavy equipment for attaching the tether to the heavy equipment. The adaptation will depend on the particular accessory involved but may generally be an adaptation allowing the tether to pass through the accessory.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/271,066, filed Feb. 8, 2019, which is a continuation of PCT PatentApp. No. PCT/CA2017/050946, filed Aug. 10, 2017, which claimed thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/373,044, filed Aug. 10,2016, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of mobile heavy equipment and, inparticular, to systems and methods for traction assist of mobile heavyequipment. A particular application is for forestry equipment operatingon an incline.

INTRODUCTION

In many cases, mobile heavy equipment is required to operate in an areawhere there may be low or reduced traction. For example, on an inclineor in bad ground conditions, such as wet areas. As a particular example,forestry companies are seeking to harvest trees in more remote ornon-typical areas, such as on increasing inclines and/or in areas havingpoor ground conditions, including swamps and the like. As the inclineincreases or ground conditions deteriorate, the potential for loss oftraction becomes higher, limiting the mobility of the heavy equipment.

In some cases, it is possible to use a tether in the form of a cable orchain to assist heavy equipment on an incline or in bad groundconditions. In this situation, the tether is attached at one end of theheavy equipment to be assisted and also attached/fastened at the otherend to another piece of heavy equipment or an embedded or stationaryobject which can provide tension to the tether in order to assist theheavy equipment with traction. The tether also typically runs via awinch or the like to allow the tether to be pulled in or furthertensioned and/or released when necessary, for example, during movementof the heavy equipment.

It has been found that it can be difficult to use a tethering systemwith some types of heavy equipment. For example, in the forestryexample, on heavy equipment such as skidders and forwarders, it may bedesirable to provide a tether at a forward end of the equipment, whichwill also typically have a bulldozer or plow-type blade mounted thereon.In such a situation, the tether may interfere with operation of theblade and/or there may be a risk of the tether being damaged byoperation of the blade. As such, there is a need for an improved systemand method of providing traction assist for heavy equipment.

SUMMARY

The present document provides an improved system and method forproviding a traction assist (via tethering) for heavy equipment for useon inclined surfaces or in other situations where there is poor orlimited traction.

According to an aspect herein, there is provided a traction assistsystem for heavy equipment having an accessory, the system including: atether; an adaptation to the accessory allowing the tether to be placedto allow the accessory to function without disrupting the tether; and anattachment point on the heavy equipment for attaching the tether to theheavy equipment. The adaptation will depend on the particular accessoryinvolved but may generally be an adaptation allowing the tether to passthrough the accessory.

In a particular case, the attachment point may be positioned on theheavy equipment at a point past an axle well that is adjacent to theaccessory.

In another particular case, the accessory may be a blade (dozer or plow)and the adaptation may be a through-hole provided in the blade.

In yet another particular case, the tether may include a plurality ofbranches, the adaptation may include a plurality of adaptations, and theattachment point may include a plurality of attachment points. Inparticular, the tether may be a single tether that branches into aplurality of branches, each running to the plurality of adaptations andattachment points or there may actually be several tethers (each ofwhich is a branch) all coming from different anchor points and eachrunning to the plurality of adaptations and attachment points

In still yet another particular case, the heavy equipment may beforestry equipment. Further, the forestry equipment may be a skidder orforwarder.

According to another aspect herein, there is provided a traction assistsystem for heavy equipment having a bulldozer blade, the systemincluding: a tether; a through-hole provided in the bulldozer blade; andan attachment point on the heavy equipment for attaching the tether.

In a particular case for this aspect, the attachment point may bepositioned on the heavy equipment at a point past an axle well that isadjacent to the bulldozer blade. In this way, the attachment point is ata strong point on the chassis and provides further leeway for the tetherto move in conjunction with the blade than if the attachment point werenearer to the blade.

In another particular case, the tether may include a plurality ofbranches, the through-hole may include a plurality of through-holes, andthe attachment point may include a plurality of attachment points.

In yet another particular case, the heavy equipment may be forestryequipment. Further, the forestry equipment may be a skidder orforwarder.

According to another aspect herein, there is provided a method fortraction assist for heavy equipment having an accessory, the methodincluding: providing a tether; adapting the accessory to allow thetether to run through the accessory; and attaching the tether to anattachment point on the heavy equipment.

In a particular case for this aspect, the tether may include a pluralityof branches, the adapting may include a plurality of adaptations, andthe attachment point may include a plurality of attachment points.

In another particular case, the accessory may be a blade and theadapting may include providing a through-hole in the blade.

In yet another particular case, the heavy equipment may be forestryequipment. Further, the forestry equipment may be a skidder orforwarder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a system for traction assist ofheavy equipment as applied to a log skidder;

FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed view of a bulldozer blade according to theembodiment of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the bulldozer blade of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 4 illustrates an attachment point according to an embodiment of thesystem for traction assist;

FIG. 5 illustrates a front view of the attachment point of FIG. 5 ; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a chassis of heavy equipment having frame stiffeners.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings,is provided to assist in understanding the example embodiments. Thefollowing description includes various specific details to assist inthat understanding but these are to be regarded as merely examples.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that thevarious embodiments and changes and modifications thereto describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of theappended claims and their equivalents. Further, elements of eachembodiment may be used in other embodiments. In addition, descriptionsof well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity andconciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to their bibliographical meanings, but, are meant to beinterpreted in context and used to enable a clear and consistentunderstanding.

As noted above, some heavy equipment may have accessories (such as ablade (e.g. bulldozer, plow surface clearing), mulcher tool, or thelike) attached to the equipment that, can interfere with a tether thatis used for traction assist. This can result in reduced usability of theaccessory and/or a risk that the tether will be damaged during use ofthe accessory. In particular, for a blade, if the tether is below theblade either the blade cannot be used or the tether might be damagedwhen the blade is lowered for use. One further issue for some heavyequipment, such as forestry equipment, that has not been fullyunderstood is the strength of the chassis at attachment points for thetether. This is because, in some cases, the tether holds a substantialpart of the weight of the heavy equipment. In the forestry example, someequipment, such as a skidder, has a different type of chassis than, forexample, a track feller buncher because it operates on wheels with anaxle rather than on a track system. In particular, the skidder chassiswill include an axle well, which can result in a thinner/weaker part ofthe chassis at the forward end (that is, forward of the axle well). Aforwarder may have similar issues as the skidder because a forwarder isalso typically wheeled and can be equipped with an accessory such as ablade. Other forestry equipment having either wheels and/or accessoriessuch as blades on their chassis may have similar concerns.

Generally speaking, embodiments of the improved system and methodinvolve: (a) modifying or adapting an accessory (as noted above, ablade, mulcher, or the like) on the chassis of heavy equipment andfeeding the tether appropriately to avoid cutting or tangling of thetether; and (b) attaching the tether to the equipment chassis oradapting the equipment chassis in such a way that the equipment chassiscan withstand the forces placed on the chassis by the tether.

In the following description, the focus is on forestry equipment, and,in particular a log skidder, however similar principles will apply toother types of heavy equipment, including, without limitation, aforwarder and the like. Further, the focus is also on a blade as theaccessory being adapted but other types of accessories may be similarlyadapted in appropriate situations.

FIG. 1 is a view of heavy equipment (in this case, a log skidder) 100that includes an embodiment of the traction assist system 105 so that itcan be tethered for use on an incline. The skidder 100 includes anaccessory 110 and one end thereof, in this case a blade 110. Thetraction assist system 105 includes: a tether 115, an adaptation 120 ofthe accessory 110, and an attachment point 125 (not visible in FIG. 1 )on the heavy equipment 100. The traction assist system 105 could also beused in other situations where there is limited traction, rather thanjust on an incline. As noted above, the opposite end of the tether fromthe heavy equipment is attached/fastened to another piece of heavyequipment or an embedded or stationary object (not shown). In somecases, the attachment at the upper end of the tether may be via a winchor the like (not shown), which can provide tension to the tether inorder to assist the skidder with traction.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view and FIG. 3 is a side view of the blade 110 ofthe skidder 100 of FIG. 1 showing the adaptation to the blade 110. Asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the blade 110 is adapted by providingthrough-holes 120 so that the tether 115 can pass through the blade 110.In this case, the tether 115 divides into two so there are twothrough-holes 120 in the blade 110. In some cases, there may be a singletether and a single through hole while, while in other cases, there maybe multiple tethers and/or a tether may be divided at some point betweenthe winch and the heavy equipment to provide separate tethers, in whichcase there will be an appropriate number of through holes. Each of thethrough-holes in the blade will be configured to reduce friction andwear on the tether. In particular, the through-holes will have generallysmooth edges so that the tether will not catch or bind when the blade isat various angles.

FIG. 4 is a view facing forward in relation to the equipment 100 andshowing the tether 115 passing through the through hole 120 andattaching to the attachment point 125 on the skidder 100. FIG. 5 is aview facing rearward in relation to the equipment 100 and showing anattachment point 125, including an attachment plate 130 and anattachment shackle 135 on the skidder 100. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 ,in this embodiment, the tether 115 is attached at a position that ispast the axle well 140 on the skidder 100. This attachment at a pointbeyond the axle well 140 is intended to provide a stronger attachmentthat is better able to manage the load of the tether 115. Further,attachment at a point further away from the blade 110 also reduces theangle through which the tether 115 at the attachment point 125 moveswhen the blade 110 is raised and lowered, which is intended to reducewear at the attachment point 125 and the through-hole 120.

In other embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6 , the skidder 100 and, inparticular, a chassis 145 of the skidder 100, may be provided with framestiffeners 150, for example, at the axle well 140 of the chassis 145(typically below the axle well) to provide greater strength to thechassis 145 so that the tether 115 can be attached to standard tow lugs155 at the front of the skidder 100 rather than at an attachment point125 further along the chassis 145 away from the blade 115.

In FIG. 1 , the tether 115 is illustrated as being a single tether linethat divides at a shackle 160 into two tether lines attached on eitherside of the skidder 100. However, the tether 115 may alternativelyinclude two tether lines (not shown), with one going to each side of theskidder chassis. Further, the tether may include additional tether linesand/or be divided into additional tether lines to provide furtherattachment points on the skidder.

In the case where there is a single tether line, the tether may passthrough a through hole on the blade and extend to an attachment point onthe chassis, for example, on the base of the skidder chassis.

It will be understood that some combination of the embodiments describedor aspects of the embodiments used with conventional technology is alsopossible. For example, the blade 100 may have through holes 120 but thetether may be connected to tow lugs 155 already in place on the skidder100. In this case, the skidder chassis may include one or more framestiffeners 150 if needed to handle the load.

The above embodiments are intended to provide the benefit that it isstill possible to use the blade as intended. That is, the blade can belowered when the equipment is parked or when needed to remove anobstacle or the like without damaging the tether under the blade.Further, the blade can be lowered for use as a vehicle brake withoutdamaging the tether under the blade. Still further, the use ofstiffeners and/or attachment to the chassis at a point beyond the axlewell in relation to the blade provides improved capability to handle thestresses put on the attachment point/chassis and on the chassis itself.

Interestingly, the use of one or more through holes in the blade allowsan operator to move the tether in the vertical direction (via movementof the blade). This allows the tether to be moved in order to avoidobstacles and change the angle of the tether during operation. Thisallows for more efficient use of the tether in appropriatecircumstances. Although something similar might be accomplished byplacing the tether above the blade, this configuration above the blademay cause issues with forces on the blade and the attachment point whenraising the blade.

The above-described embodiments are intended to be examples only.Alterations, modifications and variations can be effected to theparticular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departingfrom the scope, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.

1. A traction assist system for heavy equipment having an accessory, thesystem comprising: a tether having a first end and a second end, whereina first end is attached to an object external to the heavy equipment,the accessory, and any part thereof; a through-hole in the accessory,through which the tether passes, the through-hole configured to allowthe accessory to function without being disrupted by the tether; and anattachment point on the heavy equipment for attaching a second end ofthe tether to provide traction assistance to the heavy equipment.
 2. Atraction assist system according to claim 1, wherein the attachmentpoint is positioned on the heavy equipment at a point between driveaxles.
 3. A traction assist system according to claim 1, wherein thetether comprises a plurality of branches, the through-hole comprises aplurality of through-holes, one for each of the plurality of branches,and the attachment point comprises a plurality of attachment points, onefor each of the branches.
 4. A traction assist system according to claim1, wherein the accessory is a bulldozer blade.
 5. A traction assistsystem according to claim 4, wherein the through-hole is configured asan oblong shape to allow the bulldozer blade to move up and down withoutbeing disrupted by the tether.
 6. A traction assist system according toclaim 1, wherein the heavy equipment is forestry equipment.
 7. Atraction assist system according to claim 5, wherein the forestryequipment is a skidder.
 8. A method for traction assist for heavyequipment having an accessory, the method comprising: providing a tetherhaving a first end and a second end, wherein a first end is attached toan object external to the heavy equipment, the accessory, and any partthereof; adapting the accessory to have a through-hole, through whichthe tether passes, the through-hole configured to allow the accessory tofunction without being disrupted by the tether; and attaching the secondend of the tether to an attachment point on the heavy equipment suchthat the tether provides traction assistance to the heavy equipment as awhole.
 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the tether comprises aplurality of branches, the through-hole comprises a plurality ofthrough-holes, one for each of the plurality of branches, and theattachment point comprises a plurality of attachment, points, one foreach of the branches.
 10. A method according to claim 8, wherein theaccessory is a bulldozer blade.
 11. A method according to claim 10,wherein the through-hole is configured as an oblong shape to allow thebulldozer blade to move up and down without being disrupted by thetether.
 12. A method according to claim 8, wherein the heavy equipmentis forestry equipment.
 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein theforestry equipment is a skidder.